To Each a Fair Good Night
by nsane1
Summary: In Olivia Dunham's world, being sick means a 100% chance of getting a case. Casefic, shades of Bolivia.
1. Prologue

_**To Each a Fair Good Night**_

Summary: In Olivia Dunham's world, being sick means a 100% chance of getting a case. Casefic, shades of Bolivia.  
Rating: T for a bit of bad language  
Spoilers: General mentions of a few past cases. Olivia's in it, so before Safe.  
Author's note: So this is already written, lucky you :) I'll try and post one chapter a day, as I remember.  
Disclaimer: If it belonged to me, there would be no hiatus and therefore no withdrawal.

* * *

_To all, to each, a fair good night,  
And pleasant dreams, and slumbers light._  
--Sir Walter Scott

**Prologue**

When Olivia wakes up feeling more exhausted than she was when she went to sleep, she knows she should take a sick day. Her body aches all over, her throat is scratchy and sore, and her head is pounding so hard that she can see the room pulsing. But there's a text on her phone from Charlie saying, "I've got a case right up your alley." If she doesn't go in, he'll take it to Broyles and Broyles will take it to the Bishops and the world as they know it might possibly turn to chaos without Olivia playing ringmaster to the dysfunctional 3-ring circus. This is not hubris; it is truth.

She piles on make-up, chokes down Advil, and stumbles out the door.

Charlie is oblivious; either he's too excited about his case to notice or she's hiding it better than she thinks. "Okay, Livvie, you'll like this." She probably won't. "Anonymous tip line. A girl calls last week saying she knows where a terrorist will be. She gives us the time and location, but of course we don't go. Two days later she calls again and tells us she knows we didn't go, but that we can try again. So we send an agent."

"The terrorist is there," Olivia concludes, glad for the honey in her tea and trying not to throw it at Charlie so he'll just go away and leave her in peace

"One agent can't take him down, so we wait, hoping she'll call back. She does and gives us the time and location and we get him, 'Liv. Eighteen bombings, this guy coordinated." Charlie shakes his head. "Girl knew it down to the minute. I know you've been getting the weird cases, and this is as weird as it gets, so I'm passing it on to you."

"Thanks, Charlie," she murmurs, secretly hating him. After two hours of research that should've only taken her half an hour, she traces the call to a payphone near Wichita and that payphone to the nearest schools. She calls Broyles, gets the go-ahead, and calls Astrid. "Tell Peter he's coming with me to Kansas."

In the background, she can just hear Walter start to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," followed quickly by a pained, "Shut up," from Peter.


	2. Chapter One

Author's Note: Here there be spoilers for earlier episodes. Nothing overly specific, just mentions. And thank you for the reviews!  
Disclaimer: Unsurprisingly, I did not buy them overnight.

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**  
Chapter One**

_Dreams that do come true can be as unsettling as those that don't._  
--Brett Butler

Peter prides himself on having a keen sense of observation. It was a necessary skill in his previous line of work, and it certainly isn't hurting him now.

Even his father might notice, however, that Olivia Dunham is pretty far off her game. She fell asleep nearly immediately upon take-off, and hadn't woken up until the plane touched down. Then there are the glassy eyes, the way her attention keeps wandering where normally it's unflinchingly on point, and of course the handful of pills she'd downed upon waking. But his sense of observation is telling him not to mention any of it for fear that she'll shut down and shut him out.

"So what are we doing here?" Peter asks, keeping his tone light.

"Didn't you read the file on the flight over?" Olivia snaps.

"I didn't get a file," he says as gently as possible. Her shoulders slump, but she doesn't apologize. "And I didn't mean Wichita in general; I meant at this school in particular."

"Closest school near the pay phone; good place to start," she says, rubbing her forehead and then straightening up. "Closest that agreed to let us talk to students off the record. Broyles did some quick talking."

They have a comically short meeting with the principal, who clearly wants them gone as soon as possible. They case the area and start in the cafeteria, and Peter's just glad Walter isn't here. He can just see his father accosting some unsuspecting student and demanding to know if they can see the future. Then again, at least they'd be going somewhere; Olivia is currently staring into space. "Olivia? Hey, you ready?"

"Huh?" she murmurs. Her cheeks are flushed, even with her make-up. He puts a hand on her shoulder, and she snaps back to reality. "Right. Sorry."

So he finds his way to the faculty lounge and charms his way into getting some coffee, which he brings to Olivia to sustain her while she moves through the students. Even off her game she's friendly and persuasive, and in no time at all, her line of questioning points to a red-haired freshman who's not only sitting alone, but has a wide circle of space around her.

"Seirian Williams?" The girl looks up at Olivia, who holds out her badge. "I'm Special Agent Olivia Dunham of the FBI. Is there somewhere we can speak in private?"

"Look around. Anywhere I'm sitting is private." Peter snorts.

"Somewhere enclosed, then?" Olivia asks, not amused. A few minutes later, Seirian has led them to an empty classroom, and they all take seats in annoyingly small chairs. "So, Seirian—"

"Sian's fine," the girl interrupts.

"Sian," Olivia says, smiling disarmingly. "Please, call me Olivia, and this is Peter."

"Olivia," the girl says. "Are high school freshman on your most wanted list?"

"No, but the terrorist we caught with your help was."

"I didn't do it."

"We asked around school," Olivia says gently. "A lot of people pointed to you as someone to think of if something strange is going on."

Sian bites her lip and sighs, sinking down in her teeny chair. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"About what?"

"How I knew where he was gonna be." The girl scowls. "I didn't think I'd have to. So much for anonymous tip lines." Peter snorts again.

"I'm sorry about that, but it's important that we understand how you know. Lives could depend on it," Olivia says seriously.

Sian looks down. "You'll think I'm crazy."

Olivia smiles, a bitter smile to Peter's observant eyes. "I've seen stranger things, Sian. A man who could produce electricity with his body, a disease that turns skin clear, a man who could tune into the thoughts of certain people. I promise, whatever you tell me, I won't think you're crazy at all."

Sian's face is serious, as if she's considering telling them. But the bell rings, and she jumps up. "I have to go pick up my brothers and sisters." She pauses. "You guys can come and we can talk at the park near my house."

They follow the girl to the nearby elementary school to find a gaggle of redheaded boys obviously waiting for Sian. "Awwww, I thought Yan was picking us up today," one of the older ones complains as the baby of the group clings to Sian's leg.

"Yan's got football practice, so you lot are stuck with me," Sian says with a fond smile, then turns to the two of them. "Boys, these are Olivia and Peter. Olivia and Peter, these are Dai, Aled, Hugh, and this one here is little Rhys. Where's Bronwen?"

"She went with Carys to the shop. Can't we go meet them, Sian?" the one she'd identified as Aled begged.

"When you're ten and not before, lads," Sian says, picking up little Rhys and putting him on her shoulders as they walk home, shouting and shoving at each other like the little boys they are. Olivia follows like a zombie and Peter stays near her, worried she'll wander into the street.

They end up at a house far too small for the number of kids with them currently, much less the mentioned other three. It's well-kept, though, and they're greeted at the door by a red-haired woman who smiles wryly and takes her youngest son.

"Oi, shoes off, boys!" she calls, her accent decidedly Welsh. "Carys and Bronwen escape again?"

"I don't blame 'em, Mum," says Sian. "The way this lot screams, it's a wonder they haven't lost their voices. Maybe someday, if we're lucky."

The woman laughs, then frowns at the two interlopers. Peter nudges Olivia just in time for her to hear, "Who's this you've brought home, then?"

"Mrs. Williams, I'm Special Agent Olivia Dunham of the FBI and this is my associate, Peter Bishop. We were hoping we might be able to speak with your daughter."

"They're here about the dreams, Mum," Sian says softly. "We're just going down to the park."

"All right," Mrs. Williams agrees hesitantly. "But mind you're home for dinner."

* * *

Author's Note: So I'm a big fan of Torchwood and Wales...all the names in this chapter are Welsh, including Seirian and Sian (which is actually the Welsh form of Janet)


	3. Chapter Two

Author's Note: One more spoiler here, and then it's over. Also, fun fact!: This was originally part of chapter one, but it got too long. Finally, the lack of reviews makes me sad. However, it's already written, so there's not point in not posting it, luckily for those of you who are reading :)  
Disclaimer: I did it! I bought it! Wait, no, I didn't.  


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**  
Chapter Two**

_We are such stuff  
As dreams are made on; and our little life  
Is rounded with sleep._  
--William Shakespeare

The park is a swingset and a slide that briefly interrupt the flat landscape. He and Sian each take a swing, while Olivia sits at the bottom of the slide. She's hunched over a bit, obviously in pain, and she's probably a half-hour past her Advil dose running out. Still, she remains on task.

"All right, Sian. Can you tell us how you found out where the terrorist was going to be?"

Sian glances at him; he gives her an encouraging smile and starts to pump. "I…it's gonna sound stupid out loud."

"My father is a brilliant, mad scientist who once used blinking Christmas lights to hypnotize me into cutting off the sleeves in my shirt," Peter offers, making Sian laugh. "You can't top that."

She rolls her eyes, but looks more relaxed. "I see things when I go to sleep. I…dream them, I guess. Stuff that's going to happen in the future, usually, unless I have a weird nap or something. It was little stuff at first, like what Mum was gonna make for dinner, but then it got bigger, like if my math teacher was gonna give us a pop quiz on certain days. It only got really big recently, when I saw that terrorist."

"When did it start?" Olivia asks.

"Three years ago, I had sinus surgery. When I went to bed that night is the first time I remember," Sian says, swinging a bit.

Peter suspects it wasn't just sinus surgery. "How far ahead into the future do you see?"

"Just a day. I've never seen anything past that." She looks down. "You want me to come back with you, don't you."

"We have a lab in Harvard, and yes, we'd like our scientist to examine you. But only if that's all right with you and your mom," Olivia says, shivering even though the air is warm.

Sian's quiet while Peter goes over to Olivia and drapes his jacket around her shoulders. Finally, the girl asks softly, "Can you make it stop?"

"We'll certainly try," Peter says honestly.

Convincing Mrs. Williams isn't hard once she hears that promise, but there's a small problem when she points out that she can't exactly leave her seven other children with just their dad. "She can just stay with you, can't she?" Peter hints at Olivia when she seems totally baffled by this development.

"Oh—yes," Olivia says quickly. "I wouldn't mind at all. I'll just need you to sign a release for stating your agreement."

After that, Sian packs and says goodbye to her siblings, and they ride to the airport and board the little FBI plane.

"Wow," Sian says, looking around wide-eyed. "Are all planes like this?"

"Not really," Peter says with a laugh. "Haven't you ever been on one?"

"We visited Wales when it was just me and Yan, but I was only a baby," she says, picking a seat by the window.

"Well, if you're only going to have one plane ride to remember, you can do worse than this."

Olivia downs her medicine and passes out again; Peter lays a blanket over her and gently kisses her forehead. As he suspected, she's burning up, but with the sleep and the medicine she'll hopefully be back to her old self soon enough. With Olivia sleeping and Sian listening to a beat-up CD player and staring eagerly out the winder, he settles down to catch some shut-eye himself.

He wakes up to hushed voices and someone settling down in a seat, and Sian waves. He smiles and moves over to the seat across from her.

"They let me go into the cockpit and watch for awhile," she explains softly. "They have so many controls in there, but they said they mostly don't have to use them."

Olivia shifts in her sleep and murmurs, "John," before quieting again. They both look at her.

"Is she sick?"

"I think so," Peter answers. "But she's not the kind of person who stays home."

Sian looks at him for a second, like she's considering something, then says, "If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell?"

"Cross my heart," he says, doing so.

"I knew you were coming. I even knew you'd find me at school and that you'd be taking me to Harvard," she says. "I thought about faking sickness but you'd have found me anyway."

"So this conversation is old news? What am I going to say?"

She shrugs. "I dunno. It doesn't work like that. I only get the big picture, the main events and all that."

"How much of what you dream can you change?" he asks curiously.

"I used to try, just to see what would happen. Usually the end result is all that matters, so no matter what I try, it happens anyway. I was always going to get on this plane with you, even if I'd stayed home from school." She shrugs again. "I don't really try to change things. I figure if it was important enough for me to dream about it, I probably shouldn't mess with it." He nods in agreement. It's a good general assumption."

When they finally arrive, Peter drives them back to the lab as Olivia dozes in the back seat. Sian gazes out the window, and Peter does his best to point out the various sites.

"It's better being here than dreaming it," she comments.

At the lab, Peter leads the drowsy Olivia over to the couch.

"I need to go research Sian's surgery…her doctor," Olivia mumbles.

"You need to rest. We need the real Olivia Dunham back with us." It shows him just how bad she feels when she makes only a token murmur of protest as he gently takes off her shoes and lays her down on the couch before covering her with a blanket. He strokes her hair lightly and within minutes, she's dead to the world.

"Olivia is awfully quiet today," says Walter. Sian giggles and Peter rolls his eyes and joins the three of them.

"I'm Sian," the girl says, holding out her hand. "You're Dr. Walter Bishop and Junior Agent Astrid Farnsworth. May I call you by your first names?"

Astrid nods and seems bemused, but Walter is delighted. "Peter didn't tell you all that, did he? How fascinating! How do you know? Did you read our minds?"

Sian giggles again. At least someone finds Walter amusing. "No, I dreamed it last night."

Walter peers into her eyes like he can see into her brain. "We'll just have to put you to sleep, then, so you can dream more," he says cheerfully. "Up on the table!"

Peter does his best to make Sian comfortable while Walter bustles around her with electrodes. "Is that gonna hurt?" she asks warily.

"Nah, it's just going to measure what your brain does when you're sleeping. You won't feel a thing." She's still tense, so he tries to distract her. "Tell me about your siblings. How many are you?"

"Eight altogether," she answers, cringing when Walter puts on the first electrode. "Yan—Ianto, he's the oldest at 16. I'll be 14 next month, then Carys is 11, Bronwen is 10, Aled and Dai are 8, Hugh is 5 and a half, and little Rhys is only four. We call him little Rhys because my Da is big Rhys."

"That's a big family. Do you like it?"

"At home I do. I love all the little ones, and it's always nice when we all sit down together. It's never lonely and I have people to go to when I want a talk. But at school, people used to tease."

"Used to?"

She flushed. "When this all started, I thought maybe if I told people stuff like pop quizzes, they'd think I was cool. Instead, they thought I was weird and scary. Now they just ignore me." She pauses. "That's preferable, I guess, to the teasing. I—"

"All finished!" Walter interrupts, seeming thrilled to be getting on with it. "Now you can go to sleep."

Sian stares. "I can't go to sleep just like that."

"Why not?"

"I'm not tired."

"Then you must make yourself tired. Think of boredom."

"I'll play you some music," Peter says quickly, and moves to the piano to play Brahms' Lullaby. Sian takes offense.

"That's _baby_ music."

He chuckles softly and switches to Bach. Olivia finally gets her pick, but it's lost on her as she slumbers on.

* * *

Thank you for those of you who reviewed, especially ocein, whom I can't reply to.


	4. Chapter Three

Author's Note: Due to the outpouring of support, I have decided to post a new chapter in gratitude. Seriously, thank you. Also, sorry it's short.  
Disclaimer: I don't own it. But I am accepting donations in order to buy it.

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**Chapter Three**__

Dreaming permits each and every once of us to be quietly  
and safely insane every night of out lives.  
--William Dement

Olivia isn't quite sure how she got from Kansas back to the lab. She's sure there was a plane involved and possible a car, but now that she's at the lab she can't remember specifics. She just remembers Peter's gentle hands pulling off her shoes and stroking her hair.

Now there are shades of Bach floating thought her dreams as she sits in the passenger seat of a car. After awhile, it occurs to her to turn and see who's driving; she's unsurprised to find John sitting there.

"John," she whispers. "Why can't you just let me be?"

He reaches over and tucks an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "Do you really want me to?"

"Yes," she says, though it's without conviction. Would she be happy if he left? She has few pictures given the covert nature of their relationship, so the moments when he appears to her are precious. But the mysterious emails, the thoughts that aren't hers, the actions that aren't hers—those are unwelcome and very nearly perverse. "I did it to save your life, John. Torturing me by staying in my head is a poor way to repay that."

"This isn't torture, Livvie," he says, and his voice sounds terribly dark.

Suddenly she's on a table strapped down, and she writhes and yells and John's standing over her with a needle filled with bright yellow liquid and she screams louder. She looks left and inexplicably, Sian is there, screaming something without sound. There are toads hopping all around her and John is lowering a parasite to take over her heart and she can suddenly hear Sian's voice.

"Olivia!" Sian screams. "Wake up!"

She wakes up.


	5. Chapter Four

Author's Note: I am now back to my regular posting schedule. Also, fun Bolivia!  
Disclaimer: I grow closer and closer to my goal of starting to get the money to purchase Fringe.

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**Chapter Four**

_A dream has power to poison sleep._  
--Percy Bysshe Shelley

The two of them jolt awake at the same time, breathing heavily. Sian's brainwaves have been off the chart for some time and Olivia's been tossing fitfully from the fever and Peter had been trying to convince Walter to at least let him wake Sian with no success. But now it doesn't matter, as they are both abruptly awake and both extremely upset.

"Get it off me get it off me get it off me!" Sian shrieks, trying to pull the electrodes off her skull. "Get it off me!"

"Don't let him," Olivia moans, hair plastered to her face and fever bright in her cheeks. She pleads over and over again, hardly able to catch her breath while wincing in pain.

"Stop with the noise, little girl!" Walter yells, holding his hands over his ears and doing not a thing to stop Sian's hysterical screaming. Promising Olivia he'll be back, Peter hurries over to Sian and pulls off electrodes as quickly as he can.

When she last one comes off, Sian bolts out the door. "Astrid!" Peter calls.

"I'm on it," she calls back, already halfway out the door. The woman is a saint.

"Walter! Walter!" Peter says, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Is the screaming girl gone?"

"She's gone, Walter, but Olivia is very sick. I need you to find me a way to get her temperature down, something strong. Can you do that?"

"Why yes…yes, I can," Walter mumbles, moving over to his chemicals. Peter sighs in relief and moves over to Olivia with a small towel and icy water.

"This won't feel nice, Olivia," he says apologetically before removing her jacket and blouse, leaving only a light tank underneath. He methodically soaks the towel and rubs it over her exposed arms, neck, head. The head from her skin radiates up through the towel, and she moans a little.

"I'm sorry, Peter," she murmurs, eyes glassy and unfocused.

"Everyone gets sick. No need to apologize," he assures her, pulling damp strands of hair away from her face.

"No," she says, struggling to focus on him, and he tries to help by leaning closer. "For this, for all of this. For starting on a lie."

"I'm still here, Olivia," he reminds her. "And I'm staying here, and it's okay. With this work, my father, the pattern, you, Astrid, even the stupid cow…I don't feel like I need to run, not as much."

"Stay," she mumbles. "Stay. Don't you leave me, too."

"I won't," he promises in a whisper, kissing her burning forehead.

Awhile later, Walter's mixed up a concoction and Peter's fed it to Olivia, and she's fast asleep with nothing more than a mild fever when Astrid leads Sian in. The girl is still pale and tense, but she's in the same room as them and that's a start.

"How's Olivia?" Sian asks even though she's giving the couch a wide berth as she goes to sit down at the piano. She plunks out a few random notes.

He can see her hands trembling. "Walter gave her something. She's better, I think," Peter says, sitting down next to her and playing a light melody. "How are you?" Sian doesn't answer, still playing with the keys. "Walter's made something for you, too, to help you sleep, without dreams. But first, could you tell us what happened?"

It takes her a long time to answer, and Walter's impatience is palpable, but Peter had given him a direct order not to speak to the girl at all. So they wait, the piano music being the only thing breaking up the silence.

"I was in her dream," Sian says without any preamble. "That's never happened before. She was lying on a table and this man had her strapped down—" Sian's starting to cry now, so Peter wraps an arm around her—"and there were huge frogs and he had a big needle and a big ugly monster and she was creaming and I was screaming at her to wake up and she didn't hear me and—" Sian cuts herself off by bursting into tears and throwing herself into Peter's arms. He holds her tightly and strokes her back, and wishes that he could take this away from her.


	6. Chapter Five

Author's note: So here comes the science part (and more to come). I use science loosely in this context, because I did my research on Wikipedia. But I did try very hard (although if you know more than me, please educate me. I like to learn!).  
Disclaimer: I own...nothing.  
**  
**

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**Chapter Five**

_Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions._  
--Edgar Cayse

It's much later that he allows Walter to hypothesize. They've gathered at Olivia's place mostly because she has the most room and a spare mattress. Olivia only woke up for a bit of water before falling asleep again; Walter's drug had certainly done the trick. She hadn't even stirred when he'd carried her to the car and to her bed, and is currently in a deep sleep. Sian is asleep as well on one end of the couch, curled up under a blanket. Astrid had managed to get some food into the girl before she took Walter's sleeping powder ("Totally safe, I promise!") and they'd tried to get her into the spare mattress. She'd nearly cried again, however, so Peter had let her stay even though it was hardly comfortable. He was a sucker for crying women.

"May I speak now, son?" Walter asks with a hint of reproachment in his voice.

"Sorry for that, Walter," Peter says, not at all sorry. "But the kid was freaked out as it was."

"Well, I believe she somehow entered into Olivia's dream state and shared consciousness with her in the same way Olivia shared consciousness with Agent Scott," Walter says, sounding perfectly delighted. "Only Sian can do it without the aid of a machine; isn't that wonderful? I'd be willing to bet real money that she has an enlarged hippocampus."

"First of all, Water, you don't have real money. Second of all, this didn't start until she had sinus surgery, even if she does have an enlarged hippocampus."

"Ah, yes. They must have altered her in some way during her sinus surgery to allow her to share dreams. They would have entered her brain through her sinus cavities, much in the way the Egyptians removed the brains prior to mummification."

"That's disgusting, Walter. Do not tell Sian that," Peter says firmly, shuddering. "But Walter, she doesn't go into people's dreams, she sees the future."

"Ah, but just one day into the future," Walter reminds him. "Dreams are a way of working through what happened in our day and, so it seems, what decisions we'll make the next day."

"Then what about Olivia?"

"I imagine she dreamed with Olivia due to the fever making her dreams extraordinarily vivid and therefore quite loud."

"Will it happen again?" Peter asks, looking over at the sleeping girl. She looks peaceful now, but he can still see faint tear tracks on her cheeks.

"Perhaps if she sleeps at the same time as someone with a fever," Walter says with a shrug. "Tomorrow we will give her a CAT scan and an MRI and discover more, but for now I would much rather go to bed."

"Mattress is that way."

"What about you, son?" Walter asks, sounding sincerely concerned.

"I told the kid I wouldn't leave."

He watches TV for awhile and eventually falls asleep. The next thing he knows, Sian's standing in front of him bathed in the pale morning light and looking much better.

"Your dad's in the closet reciting numbers," the girl says, blinking owlishly. "Do you like pancakes?"

Over a breakfast of delicious chocolate chip pancakes, which Walter pronounces are his new favorite food, Olivia finally makes her appearance. She looks very nearly like her old self, although she's still pale and a bit glassy-eyed. She's alert and functioning, however, and probably doesn't have much of a fever, although she still looks like she's in some pain. Her hair is brushed and, for the first time, is braided back, softening the lines of her face.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes as Peter stands and pulls out a chair for her. "Especially to you, Sian. I've been a terrible host."

"It's okay. Peter's been taking care of me," Sian says with a shrug, then adds (like the afterthought it is), "Walter, too."

"Still, I promise I'll be more responsible for you, Sian," Olivia says firmly, picking at a pancake. "Did you make these?"

"Sian made this, Olivia! Aren't they delicious? Her ability to find ingredients is second only to her ability to cook," Walter says enthusiastically.

Sian blushes. "I cook a lot for my family."

"They're wonderful," says Olivia, who hasn't yet taken a proper bite. "What's on the schedule for today?"

"An MRI and a CAT scan," Walter says cheerfully. "Asterine is taking her after breakfast, so we can see inside Sian's brain."

"But we don't need you for that, Olivia. You can stay here and rest," Peter says, but she shakes her head.

"I've done enough resting, thank you. Right now I need to get into my office and get to researching."

"I'll make a deal with you," Peter offers, and she nods, neither of them in the mood for arguing. "We take your temperature. If it's over 100 degrees, you do your research at the lab so we can keep an eye on you. If it's under, you get to go do whatever you want."

They take her temperature and it's 100.7 degrees. She protests that it's close enough to 100 degrees to count, but he threatens to call Broyles and she subsides and takes her medicine.

"Just to be sure, this won't knock me out like the one yesterday, will it?" she asks, pill halfway to her mouth.

"No, Olivia, I assure you. It is quite safe to take," Walter says absently as he closely studies the last two chocolate chips on his plate. "I wonder if they know they're the last. Do you know, chips?"

Sian giggles.

* * *

As the Doctor might say, it's sciencey-wiency stuff.


	7. Chapter Six

Author's note: Luckily, not much sciencey-wiency in this part, but just you wait until the next couple of chapters. This one's mostly hurt/comfort, so enjoy it while it lasts!  
Disclaimer: Not mine.

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**  
Chapter Six**

_Dreams say what they mean, but they  
don't say it in daytime language._  
--Gail Godwin

Astrid takes the girl for her MRI and CAT scan, and the rest of them settle in around the lab. Walter is studying Sian's brainwaves, occasionally asking Peter for input or remarking on odd occurrences that have nothing to do with anything. Olivia's working at her computer, although she's still exhausted. Her shoulders are slumped and her head keeps falling forward before she jerks herself awake.

Peter sits next to her after awhile, wondering if making her fall backwards would keep her asleep. "What've you got?"

"Not much," she says hoarsely, making a face. "It's a little hard to focus. Are you sure Walter didn't give me anything funny?"

"Cross my heart," he says with a charming smile. "What are you looking at?"

"Sian's surgery records. Her sinuses were causing her a great deal of pain, so she had surgery to enlarge them. She was under for 5 hours and left the hospital a few hours later. No one reported anything unusual," Olivia says, sounding frustrated.

"What about the doctor?"

"Doctors," Olivia corrects him. "They have two listed, Dr. Lewis Fitzgerald and Dr. Melanie Harding. Dr. Fitzgerald is listed as an ear, nose, and throat surgeon…Dr. Harding is just listed as assisting."

"Sinus surgery is a relatively simple procedure," Walter says absently from his area of the room. "Why two? Perhaps one was incompetent."

"Or wasn't there for sinus surgery," Peter concludes. "Can I see that?"

"Sure, why not," says Olivia, leaning back into the couch to give him space. Within minutes, she's fast asleep. He covers her with a blanket and gets to work.

Olivia's awake by the time Astrid and Sian get back, though only just, so she's groggy and bewildered when Sian flings herself into Olivia's arms.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" the girl exclaims. "The boys'll be _so_ jealous."

Olivia's face still shows confusion, so Astrid gives her a lift. "The gifts for Sian…? So she's not bored?"

"Oh…yes." Olivia smiles a little. "I appropriated some money from the FBI to buy Sian some electronics."

"A DS and games and an iPod! I can put my CDs on it!" she says excitedly, practically bouncing. "Can I go play?"

"Go play," Peter says with a smile. With eight kids in a house that small, she's likely never even dreamed of owning those fancy electronics that a lot of kids took for granted these days. She finds an unoccupied area of the lab, puts on some headphones, and happily occupies herself. Walter equally as happily pours over the CAT scan and MRI films, and Astrid sets herself up at her computer after Peter explains what he's been researching so she can continue. This leaves him free to head over to Olivia, concerned that she still looks bewildered and that her cheeks are flushed.

"Open up," he says, and she does, glassy eyes focused on something else. He plops in the thermometer and waits until it beeps furiously. "Hundred and two point nine. Don't you feel it, Olivia?" She doesn't look at him. "Olivia? Hey, Olivia!"

She snaps her head towards him. "Peter?" She closes her eyes and abruptly goes limp, toppling over into him; it scares him enough that he almost yells at Astrid to call 911. But in a few moments, her eyes flutter open again. Though she seems surprised she's now using him as a pillow, she doesn't say anything about it.

"God, you scared me," he says, brushing her hair away from her face and gently stroking it.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "I'm just so tired, and my head…and my throat, I can hardly swallow."

He frowns. "Astrid, you got a flashlight?"

"Sure," she says, bringing over a penlight. "How's she doing?"

"Not great, but I think I know what's wrong. Open up and say ah, Olivia."

"What are you, a doctor?" she asks, and Peter smiles, glad to hear a bit of snark.

"Shhh." He shines the light down her throat and sees the tell-tale white spots. "You have yourself a lovely case of strep throat, Olivia Dunham. Next time you're this sick, take yourself to a doctor, hmm? You could've avoided a good day and a half of being sick."

She winces and closes her eyes, and he brushes his thumb across her hot cheek as somewhat of an apology. "I'll get her a course of antibiotics," Astrid offers. "Are you allergic to anything, Agent Dunham?"

Olivia shakes her head, eyes still closed. "I'm going to give you some of the strong stuff. You need to sleep, Olivia," Peter says, still lightly stroking her hair.

"I don't feel well," she mumbles.

"I know," he says as he lays her down on the couch and gets some of Walter's good medicine. She's out cold for the rest of the day, minus when they wake her up to force her to take the antibiotics. But she's finally, finally healing.


	8. Chapter Seven

Author's note: So here there's some sciencey-wiency, but I did my research. I even printed stuff out so I could read it while I was writing! Also, there's a curse or two.  
Disclaimer: Still not mine. Unbelievable.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

_Channels are blocked in the mind, from the day.  
Lie down in blackness of night, forgotten remnants  
rush to the mind, or creeping slowly appear in the dreams._  
--Nathaniel LeTonnerre

The day could actually be called peaceful after that. Walter is happy with his films, Olivia's asleep, Sian is over in her corner playing video games, and Astrid and he are researching. The only wrinkle is when Astrid gets a phone call from Broyles (as they've turned Olivia's off) and has to cover. Agent Dunham is ill. Yes, she's on antibiotics. Yes, we're still working. Yes, I'll give her your regards.

"Ah ha! Astronomy, Peter, come look!" Walter says triumphantly, and they both move over to shush him before he can wake Olivia. "Yes, yes. Sian's hippocampus is quite large, as I'd expected, but she also has this."

Peter squints at a small spot. "Is that a tumor?"

"No, no, the shape is too regular." Walter shifts to a closer view. "Do you see it now, son?"

"I'll be damned. Is that a chip?"

Walter nods enthusiastically. "It likely records what she dreams and probably increases her serotonin and other monoamine production."

"To make her dream for longer amounts of time and have the dreams be more vivid," Peter translates for Astrid. "You find anything on that Dr. Harding?"

"She's not in any official system, so it's taking time to figure out who she really is. I've also been cross-checking sinus surgeries with those two doctors, but so far Sian's the only one."

"I imagine it's because of her abnormally large hippocampus. Her dreams were most likely vivid before, but once they altered her and inserted the chip, she gained the ability to enter into shared dream states," Walter explains. They all look at Sian, who decides on that moment to look up and gives an awkward little wave. "We must test this."

About an hour later, they once again have Sian hooked up to electrodes and a machine to measure and manipulate her brain functions. It had taken Peter half an hour to convince Sian to get hooked up again, promising over and over that she isn't going to sleep this time, that they just want to ask her questions and do a few tests. In the end, Peter has to swear on his life that he'll pinch her if she falls asleep.

"Are you ready?" Walter asks.

Sian shifts around uncomfortably. "Do I have to?"

"It's the only way to understand how this ability of yours works," Walter says honestly. Finally, the girl nods. "Excellent. Now, I'm going to give you words and I want you to give me the memories which you associate with the word. Understand?"

"Sure," Sian says. "That's easy." She relaxes a bit, but her hold on Peter's hand is tight.

"Butterflies."

"Building a butterfly model with Lauren in 3rd grade."

"Blue."

"Being Violet Beauregarde in our school play."

Walter nods at Peter, who applies a light electrical charge to the electrode nearest the chip. Sian blinks, but doesn't seem bothered. "Chicken."

"When I was seven, me and my mum went and bought a live chicken so my grandmother could kill it and roast it when she came from Wales. By the time she came, Yan and I had named it and refused to let her anywhere near it," Sian says.

Astrid's eyes widen. Walter smiles. "The beauty of the hippocampus, my dear."

Peter starts to smile, but frowns when he notices Sian's focus is on the space above the couch. She's shivering, too, and starting to sweat. "Sian, what's wrong?"

"I see him," she says, breathing hard. "The man from her dream. He's there."

"Walter, what's happening?" Peter asks worriedly as his father immediately begins to remove the electrodes. For Walter to stop an experiment, something has to be extremely wrong.

"Take her pulse, and look at her legs. Astring, we need the tank prepare immediately, lukewarm water, hurry!" Walter demands, looking at Sian's pupils.

"The tank? You cannot put a little girl into the tank," Peter hisses, pushing his father away from Sian.

"Her pulse and her legs!" Walter snaps, and Peter finally looks. Sian is twitching sporadically, especially her legs, and the wrist that he takes is burning hot. Her pulse is thready and even more rapid than her breathing.

"Shit," says Peter. "The tank, Astrid! We need to cool her down!"

The girl's body is wracked with tremors and she's sweating heavily, her hair damp and stuck to her flushed face and neck. She's still staring at Olivia and babbling about the man, the man who wants to hurt Olivia. Her twitching is becoming more and more fierce, and he sticks Olivia's thermometer in the girl's mouth to find her temperature is 103.8 degrees and climbing.

"Tank's ready," Astrid pants, having filled it and shoveled in salt in double time.

"What's going on, Walter?" Peter asks when Walter approaches with a syringe, ready to push him away again.

"It's called Serotonin Syndrome. This should help; hold her steady." Carefully, Walter injects the contents into Sian's arm, and she gradually relaxes her muscles, slipping into unconsciousness. Peter helps Walter insert an IV line (just saline) and hook her up to monitors, and they slide her into the tank.

"Jesus, Walter, really. What the hell is going on?" Peter demands as Walter tries to close the doors. "You can't lock her in there! Cooling her off is one thing, but leaving her in the dark?"

Walter is a scary scientist sort of calm. "Her body needs to be tricked into believing it's sleeping, so that her hippocampus can do its work and remove the serotonin from her system before it kills her."

In the tank, Sian's face is still bright red, and her breath is coming in weak gasps. He can feel her heart still pounding, so he gently lets her go to float in the water and allows Walter to close the door. The three of them stand her breathing heavily from the urgency of it all, until the too-weak-to-be-horrified voice of Olivia Dunham comes from behind them.

"Will somebody please tell me what in the name of god would possess you to put that girl in the tank?"

Walter turns around, looking like a child who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "It's saved her life, Olivia," he says earnestly. "I promise."

* * *

If anyone celebrates it (and I do), Merry Russian Orthodox Christmas! I hope Dyed Moroz (St. Nicholas) was good to you :)


	9. Chapter Eight

Author's note: So we're beginning to wrap things up here...you will get answers quite shortly. Enjoy!  
Disclaimer: I did not get Fringe for Russian Christmas.

* * *

**Chapter Eight**  
_  
Dreaming--either one does not dream at all,  
or one dreams in an interesting manner._  
--Friedrich Nietzsche

Ten minutes later, they're gathered around the couch, where they persuaded Olivia to sit down before she fell down. Astrid is monitoring the girl inside the tank; Sian's temperature had gone up to a terrifying 104.5 degrees before the tepid water, saline IV, and whatever else Walter had given her began to take effect.

"Serotonin Syndrome," Walter is explaining to Olivia, "is when there is too much serotonin in the body."

"It's what helps us sleep and keeps our mood up, that sort of thing," Peter says. Olivia's still far from her best, and likely to let Walter's confusing words pass over her rather than demand an explanation like she usually does.

"Yes, yes," says Walter impatiently. "When we stimulated Sian's chip—"

"Chip?" Olivia asks with a frown, and Peter remembers just how far out of the loop she is, and updates her quickly.

"When we stimulated the chip, whomever is monitoring it noticed and flooded the girl's system with serotonin in order to block our investigations," Walter finishes. "I gave her cyproheptadine and benzodiazepine."

"Um, serotonin antagonist to stop her from producing more serotonin and a sedative to calm her muscles so she can start to recover from hyperthermia," Peter translates. Olivia closes her eyes and he thinks she's drifting off, until she speaks again and he realizes she was just trying to consolidate the information in her head.

"We need to find the person who's monitoring her, then, or we won't be able to help her. Any news on that front, Astrid?"

"No, Agent Dunham," the young woman reports. "Everything I have so far is on that computer."

"Right. I'll keep researching that; Peter, see if there are any related cases; Walter, figure out a way to get that chip out, assuming we stop the monitoring; and Astrid, keep an eye on Sian's vitals," Olivia commands. Peter doesn't even mind being ordered around, not if it means Olivia is approaching normal.

Approaching, but not there yet. Olivia's able to work solidly for two hours, finding the woman's name in multiple hospital records, but she begins to fade. Without saying anything, Peter offers her a glass of water, her second dose of antibiotics, and Walter's less severe medicine. "You'll be 100% in no time," he offers with a smile.

"I know," is all she says. He coaxes her into eating something, and once she starts she's able to finish a whole bowl of soup.

"Dr. Bishop? Her temperature's normal," Astrid says, and they all breathe a sigh of relief. Peter pulls Sian from the tank, and it's almost like she's a wet noodle. Her arms and legs flop all over the place; she has no control over her muscles at all, thanks to the drugs. He and Walter respectfully turn away as Astrid and Olivia get her into dry clothes and towel off her hair. Once she's been changed, Peter picks her up and puts her on the couch, still connected to the IV and monitors.

"Here we go," says Walter, gently laying a blanket over the girl. Peter looks at him in surprise, but Walter merely smiles and puts a finger to his lips.

It's a little while later, after Olivia has finally conceded to the idea of taking a nap on a cot in one of the rooms seeing as how she's getting nowhere in her research, that Sian wakes up.

"Olivia?" she calls weakly. "Olivia?"

Astrid runs to get her as Peter kneels by Sian's side.

"Hey, Sian. How are you feeling?" he asks, smiling and pulling a wayward strand of hair off her face.

"Tired," she says, sounding it. "Funny."

"That'll be from the drugs," Walter says cheerfully. A look of alarm passes across Sian's face.

"Don't worry, we'll explain it later," Peter promises, squeezing her hand. "You're okay. We're taking care of you."

"Hi, Sian," Olivia says softly as she kneels down next to Peter, only half-awake herself. "You asked for me?"

"The woman you're trying to find, Dr. Harding," Sian says tiredly, speaking a clear effort. "I know where she'll be. The…the Blue Corn Café in Wichita, 5 o'clock tomorrow, CST."

"What does she look like, Sian? Sian?"

But the girl is rapidly fading and to her credit, Olivia doesn't push it. "There's plenty of time for that. Go back to sleep, Sian. We'll make sure you don't dream."

"Thanks," she whispers, slipping off again. Without being asked, Walter injects his special sedative into the IV.

Olivia's already starting to pack her things, swaying a little. "Whoa, wait. Where are you going?" Peter asks.

"Didn't you hear? Wichita?"

"No way, Olivia. You're still sick, and if you go halfway across the U.S., you'll make yourself sicker." He gently pushes her down on a chair, and she's weak enough that she can't put up much of a struggle. "Call Charlie. Let him go to Wichita. By the time 5 o'clock rolls around, Sian will have given us a description and you can fax it over there. Okay?"

She sighs and rubs her forehead. "Okay."

* * *

P.S. I've never been to Wichita, and I totally made up the name of the cafe.


	10. Chapter Nine

Author's Note: I am proud to announce that this is the longest chapter (mostly because I couldn't find a good place to split it up). So for the last real chapter (oh no!) you get a nice long one. Only the epilogue after this, folks!  
Disclaimer: I bowled a 152 today, but sadly I did not win Fringe.

* * *

**  
Chapter Nine**

_Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there,  
wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams  
no mortal ever dared to dream before._  
--Edgar Allan Poe

In the morning, after a good night's sleep and a third dose of antibiotics, Olivia's temperature is only 99.8 degrees and she triumphantly tells Peter she can go to work. So the three of them, including a refreshed-looking and fully-recovered Sian, trek on down to the federal building. Sian is absolutely fascinated by everything and everyone, even Broyles, who stops by to check on Olivia. She's still pale enough to look sick, so they have no trouble convincing him that the woman needed the time off. Sian has even more fun describing the woman from her dreams to a facial reconstruction expert, who faxes it over to Charlie.

"Now what?" asks Sian, almost giddy from the fun of it all.

"Now, we wait," says Olivia. Sian's face falls, and Peter smiles.

"What would you like to do?"

Her face brightens again. "I bet you $50 that I can kick your butt in bowling."

"Do you even have $50?"

She looks smug. "I won't need it."

"You're on."

Olivia stays to get some work done, after promising to keep it light and stay no later than two. Peter and Sian swing by the lab to pick up Walter and Astrid, who are game to go.

"I haven't bowled in seventeen years," Walter says gleefully.

They hang out at the bowling alley and eat terrible food and have a grand old time bowling. Sian somehow bowls a 225, a 208, and a 210, collecting $50 each from him and Astrid, having beat them by at least 50 all three games. Walter outbowls them all.

"I'm on the bowling team at school," Sian finally admits when pressed. "It's kind of nice. They'll actually talk to me when I bowl well."

"You are a cheater," Peter declares.

Sian giggles. "Am not. You're the one who overestimated your skill at bowling."

"Cheeky," he says, and buys them all ice creams to celebrate.

Olivia is asleep on the couch when they get back around four and they tiptoe around the lab to avoid waking her. Sian graciously allows Peter to play with her DS while she learns how to brush and milk the cow from his father, and they occasionally break out into quiet giggles. Astrid is out getting pizza for dinner when Olivia's cell phone rings, and they're all on instant alert when she wakes and answers it.

"Thanks, Charlie," Olivia finally says, hanging up and smiling. "They got her. Well done, Sian."

Olivia cooks for all of them at her house that night to say thanks, and early the next morning, Peter accompanies her to interrogate Dr. Melanie Harding.

"Given the events of the past few days, I assume you know why you're here," Olivia begins, her voice cool, collected, and in charge.

"Dear little Seirian Williams. How is she? I hope she survived my little…interference measure."

"That's none of your business," says Peter, glaring at her. "What did you do to her?"

Olivia tenses beside him and he worries he's taken it too far already, but the woman merely looks self-satisfied. "She's a special girl, you know. I looked through the CAT scans and MRIs of thousands of people before I found her. And I was so glad I waited."

"Waited for what? What do you need her for?" Olivia probes.

"Oh, come now. I'm sure you've figured it out from your tests."

"You altered her hippocampus," Peter says.

The doctor laughs. "I hardly even had to. Just put in the chip and upped her serotonin production and off she went."

"Was it just her?" Olivia asks. "Was she the only one you altered?"

"I've never seen anyone else like her, though not for lack of trying. But I do know she can't share dreams with just anyone, only people who have particularly vivid dreams."

"But why do this to her? She told us herself she can't control it, that she only saw little things until just recently. What's the point?" Peter demands. Why make a poor little girl dream the future?

The doctor leans forward, her eyes glittering with manic obsession. "She's only beginning to develop her full potential. Once she dreams with a person, she can always dream with that person. Eventually, she'll be able to choose, and then…then she'll be unstoppable. Imagine what she could do."

Peter is horrified, but Olivia manages to keep focused. "Do you know how we found you?" she asks calmly. "Seirian…how did you put it? Dreamed with you." Dr. Harding pales. "Oh, so it's all right when she dreams with other people, but not with you?"

"That's…that's not possible." There is actual fear in the doctor's eyes.

"What, is she developing to her full potential too quickly?" Olivia keeps asking the questions. "Now that she's dreamed with you, she can do it again, that's right, isn't it? Anywhere you go, anything you do, _she'll be able to find you_."

"I'm not—she's not—"

Olivia slams her hand down on the table. "How do we get that chip out of her?"

"I—I don't—you don't understand. The chip is just to monitor and to make little adjustments, but it shouldn't be happening this fast. Her brain is doing that on its own." The doctor's eyes are terrified. "I can't stop it. It's not in my control!"

Peter stands. He can't help himself. "You mean to tell me you put something in that girl's brain without even knowing what was going to happen?" he says angrily, looming over the doctor.

"It was an experiment! Sometimes they get out of control—"

"It was an experiment on a little girl!" he yells slamming his mug of coffee on the table so hard it shatters.

"I'll tell you where my lab is, where the monitoring equipment is," the doctor sobs. "It won't stop her from dreaming like that, nothing can, but no one will be able to use the chip. No one."

"You swear?" Olivia demands.

"I swear it. I swear!" the woman cries, then babbles out the address and how to get in. Peter nearly storms out in disgust, but thinks of a better way to deal with his anger and gets in her face.

"Now you'll never know when she could be dreaming with you," he says, his voice low and menacing. "Your nights are no longer your own."

The woman sobs him out the door.

He sits outside on a bench for a good long while, trying to calm himself down. By the time Olivia finishes with the doctor and comes to find him, he's all but succeeded.

"Hey," she says softly. He glances at her and notices she only has on a blazer.

"You just don't want to get better, do you?" he asks, keeping his tone light and joking as he pulls off his jacket and wraps it around her shoulders.

"Good thing I have you to look after me," she teases, and they sit for awhile in companionable silence. "You gonna be okay?"

"Me? Yeah, sure." He grimaces. "Sian won't be."

"She won't," Olivia agrees quietly, and he's glad for the lack of platitudes. "Can your father do anything?"

The news is grim when they consult him later—it's about management, not a cure. Sian takes it better than Peter does, and hugs him tightly.

"You tried," she whispers into his hear. "I know you tried."

"Take one of these every night at bedtime," Walter instructs, handing the girl a bottle of pills. "They will decrease your serotonin levels enough that you'll dream like a normal person. I will send you new pills whenever you require."

"Thanks, Walter," she says, hugging him, too, then pulls back to look at all of them. "I'm going to keep dreaming…with people…unless I take these pills, won't I?"

"I'm afraid so," Walter answers, looking as disappointed as Peter feels.

"But the dreaming, it…it can help you, can't it?" Sian asks, turning to Olivia. "It could help you with your work, with all the weird stuff?"

"Sian, I don't—"

"I'm not going to dream every night," Sian interrupts firmly. "But some nights, I will, and if you give me a way, I'll contact you."

"Sian, you don't have to. I won't want you to think you have to."

"I want to," Sian tells Olivia, absolutely adamant in the way only a teenager can be. "I'm the only one who can do it and you need all the help you can get. I can do it. Just…not all the time."

Peter wants to protest, but he can tell by the stubborn set to her jaw that Sian's not going to back down. He uses a different tactic. "You know, Olivia, if she's aiding in our investigations, she's technically in the employ of the federal government. Shouldn't she get some sort of compensation?"

"And if she's going to dream, she'll need to be somewhere quiet and comfortable," Olivia muses. "Not in that little house."

"And a phone, she needs a good phone. Maybe one that does text messages if she can't reach you by calling," Astrid adds.

"What are you talking about?" asks Walter.

Sian is close to tears. "Really?"

"I'll see what I can do," Olivia says with a warm smile.

When they finally return Sian to her parents, it's with the news that they'll be moving to a much larger house, compliments of the government and that they'll be getting a stipend for their daughter's help no matter how much or how little she dreams. Everyone is in tears and Sian is smiling widely and hugging everyone in sight.

"She'll be okay. We didn't stop it, but somehow, she'll still be okay," Olivia says, amazed.

"She'll be more than okay. They'll have money, and a better place to live, and she'll be able to control when she dreams…until she can control who she dreams with, I guess," Peter says, smiling as Sian shows the boys their brand new DSs and they shriek with joy. They girls and her older brother get iPods and they're equally as thrilled, though not quite as loud. Sian runs back to Olivia and Peter and hugs both of them tightly, whispering tearful thanks in their ears before rejoining her family.

Peter offers his arm to Olivia. "Let's go home."

Olivia smiles and slips her arm into his. She sleeps the whole flight home, head resting on his shoulder. He smiles at her and knows that even though they couldn't stop Sian's dreams, they somehow managed to do good anyway.

* * *

Yay for answers! And sciencey-wiency. And also, I doubt the government can do that sort of thing, but...they have lots of funding, right? They got a cow and everything...


	11. Epilogue

Author's Note: Well, now we are at the end. I have to admit, I didn't write this epilogue until...well, just now, because I didn't originally plan for an epilogue. So it's probably not as good. Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks especially to my regular reviewers JT4life, Miss Mila, and Ocein!!  
Disclaimer: When I think about it, I don't really want to own it. It would be too much work.

* * *

**Epilogue  
**

_If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure  
for it is not to dream less but to dream more,  
to dream all the time._  
--Marcel Proust

When Olivia picks up her ringing phone, she expects it to be Charlie or Broyles calling with news on their current case, but instead she hears a not entirely unfamiliar girl's voice.

"Hi, is this Olivia?"

"Yes, this is Agent Dunham. Who's this?"

"It's Sian," the girl says, sounding nervous. "Seirian Williams? Don't you remember me? You were real sick, but even so I thought--"

Olivia smiles, making the connection. "Of course I remember you, Sian. I just have a lot on my mind."

"It's Sian?" Peter asks, perking up from across the room. He'd been in a foul mood all morning due first to having to sleep in the tub, then to Walter turning on the faucet while Peter was still sleeping. But he has a genuine smile on his face when he comes over. "Hey, put her on speakerphone. Sian, can you hear me? It's Peter."

"Hi, Peter!" Sian says happily, her voice tinny over the speaker. "How is everyone?"

"We're fine," Olivia lies before Peter can say anything. "How do you like your new house?"

"Everyone loves it. I have my own room, now, and I painted it purple, and I don't have to wear any of Yan's clothes," Sian tells them. "Is Walter there? And Astrid?"

"They're out right now, but we'll be sure to say hi," Olivia says. She was afraid Peter would murder his father or at the very least cause him physical harm, so she'd sent him out with Astrid to pick up lunch.

"How's school?" asks Peter.

Sian sounds particularly joyous. "I told my bowling team that I went and got cure so I wasn't weird anymore, and they started sitting with me at lunch, and when people started teasing again, Yan and some of his friends dealt with it."

"Sounds like things are working out," Peter says with such an infectious smile that Olivia smiles as well.

"They are," Sian agrees. "So last night I thought I'd try not taking Walter's pills."

Both of them stop smiling. "Sian, I told you that you didn't have to--" Olivia starts, but Sian interrupts.

"I did, and I dreamed about that man I kept seeing with Olivia," she says, and Olivia feels inexplicably chilled. "He has a message for you."

"He--he can't have a message," Olivia says, proud that she mostly keeps her voice from shaking.

"He did, Olivia. He said it's important. He said you're really close and you have to keep going. But you have to be careful, because they're really close, too. And he loves you."

Even under the covers when she finally tries to go to sleep, she can't get warm, and Sian's voice echoes in her head.

* * *

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed!


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